As a funeral director, Aaron A. Cederberg was too busy to talk more than five minutes when his old high school friend called about their upcoming high school reunion.

Instead, Cederberg found himself attending his friend's funeral.

Fire crews found the burned remains of Steve Sampier II early Nov. 25 after a blaze at his Blackman Township home in Jackson County, three days before Cederberg and Sampier were to attend their Bay City Western High School Class of 1996 reunion.

Police are releasing few details about Sampier's death, deemed a homicide through an autopsy.

"We believe the fire was set to destroy the evidence," said Mike Jester, director of the Blackman Charter Township Public Safety Office.

Cederberg said he and Sampier became inseparable friends starting in the eighth grade.

"Every day now I wish I took more time to talk to him that day," said Cederberg, 31, of Frankenmuth Township. "That was just two weeks before he was murdered, and we were planning on catching up at the reunion."

Sampier spent most of his life in the Midland area.

He served with the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division and later worked as a drill instructor for the state Department of Corrections at the Special Alternative Incarceration Boot Camp - a Department of Corrections alternative to prison that includes military-style exercise, work assignments and other programming, including secondary education and substance-abuse treatment.

Cederberg said Sampier was an "all-American guy," proud of serving in the Army, who had served in Bosnia.

"He was one of my closest friends in high school," Cederberg said. "He liked to deer hunt. We used to do a lot of things together. We used to go sucker fishing in Omer.

"Everything he did he gave 100 percent."

Their last phone conversation centered on old times.

"We planned to have a couple of beers, talk about how we were trying to live down the reputation we had in high school, and how we were hoping we wouldn't repeat any stupid stunts at the reunion," Cederberg said.